Ismail Seyfi's Blog

I recently ran into a problem with Oracle version 9i. I was trying to insert a value into a varchar2(3200) column when I got the below exception. javax.servlet.ServletException: java.sql.SQLException: ORA-01461: canbind a LONG value only for insert into a LONG column The size of the text that I was trying to insert was actually lesser than the limit of 3200 characters. Yet Oracle thought the value that was being inserted was too large for the column. After reading some forums and articles, I found out that the problem was due to encoding of the characters. When content is saved, the saved sized of the content is actually more than the actual size of the content due to some data encoding conversion (to UTF8). This probably depends on the encoding of your database. You can run the following command to find your database's encoding. select * from nls_database_parameters where parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET' If your database's encoding is set to UTF8, you should see something ...

During Thanksgiving weekend, I picked up a SlingBox Pro . If you do not know what it is, let me give you a quick explanation of what it is and what it can be used for. It is essentially a hardware that you can hook up to your media center, that would allow you to watch your tv/setup box/dvd player over the net. What's really good about is that it does have support for hight definition content. Though, you need to buy a separate connector cable from Sling Media which I bought with my unit. The set up of SlingBox Pr o was not difficult at all. In my case, I ended up hooking up to my HD cable setup box unit. I used the connector cable to connect my SlingBox Pro to my cable setup box. I used a component cable to do this. That is the only cable format supported with this connector cable. This connector cable has input and output ports. You can actually connect it to your TV as well which would allow you to watch TV while you are using SingBox Pro . Once you have it hooked up, all you n...

I recently decided to upgrade the ram on my Intel mac-mini. The original size of the ram was 512mb, 2 X 256Mb, which was really becoming a huge problem. I had never changed memory on a mac-mini before but I had this feeling that Apple's design would allow me to change the ram quickly. That was a big mistake. If you are not familiar with mac-mini's design I would suggest you do some research before getting into it. I ordered memory from Ramjet . They are great! The prices are really good. I would recommend it to anyone. Once the memory arrived, I got right to it. The first step was to open the case. This took a while as there was no easy way to pop it open. There are no buttons of any sort and the case is tightly integrated into the design of mac-mini. It basically required some unusual tools. I used 3 slim fruit knives to loosen the edges. Once the knives were in there, I used a larger and thicker knife to pop it open. Once it was open, I had no clue where the ram modules were...

If you do not know the term "AJAX" you should not be reading this post. This post assumes that you have worked with AJAX in the past before. I use AJAX a lot with my applications. I ran into some limitations over the years with AJAX. I thought it would be a good idea to list these limitations and how I was able to overcome them.As many of you know, AJAX is a solution that allows our applications to communicate asynchronously. Due to the nature of asynchronous communication, web browsers partially update contents on a given page. When back or forward buttons are used, the pages in question will not go back or go forward to the its updated/initial state. A similar problem will exist with bookmarks. Since the content is updated with the same url, the state of the page is lost to be saved. One way to overcome this limitation is to use a framework called RSH . This framework basically allows you to manipulate web browsers history object. It allows you to store state information wi...

I have been meaning to get this going for about a year now. I have played with few blog software options out there but I think Blogger is the winner. The content on the blog will vary as it will be coming from different aspects of professional life.